“No one is going to find out. I’ve been coming up here for a while,” I respond, a bit annoyed. “Just relax and take in the view.”
I can tell she is trying since she takes a deep breath and leans back on her arms. “What are we looking at?”
The sky is just as clear as it was last night. I point to the top of the pyramid on the other side of the wall. “You see that over there? That’s the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It’s over 5000 years old.”
“Wow.” She is genuinely impressed. “What is it? Who built it?”
Her questions make me smile. I’m excited to share what I’ve learned. “There is actually more than one. That one is just the tallest. The Egyptians built them as a way to honor their dead kings, or pharaohs. So they are pretty much giant tombs.”
“That’s amazing. How do you know all of that?” She leans forward to get a closer look.
I lean with her. “I just got books from the library and read all I could. I want to sneak past the wall and see it up close. Want to come with me?”
She turns to me. “Atom, you know we are not allowed to leave the compound. Rene has told me many times, as I’m sure he has told you. It’s very dangerous out there.”
“Has he ever told you what danger is on the other side of the walls?” I retort. Maybe a little bit too strong since she scoots back.
“Does it matter what it is? Why else would they have all those drones patrolling the walls? They are obviously there to keep something out,” she scolds me.
“Or to keep us in,” I say.
She stands. “I’m getting tired. I think I’m going to go back to my room.”
“Sleep well,” is all I can think to say. This isn’t how I pictured things happening up here. I’m not sure what I had in mind. I just knew that I wanted it to be relaxing.
“You too,” she says with a crack in her voice. I don’t look at her as she heads down the ladder, instead I lay back and cover myself with the blanket. I stare at the moon thinking about the base that is up there and the fact that no one has been up there in over 100 years. I wonder what it’s like up there or on the colony on Mars. I fall asleep pretty easily.
That night I dream that I am being chased by thousands of drones. They chase me through the hallways and out into the grounds of the compound. There are no walls surrounding the compound so I can see the pyramid ahead of me. I run toward the pyramid but I see Ev standing off to the side of the pyramid. She is calling me towards her but I choose to run towards the pyramid to escape the drones pursuing me. I run into the opening of the pyramid and the drones stop just outside and gather around the entire pyramid.
I wake up when the warmth of the morning sun hits my face. I might have slept through the night but I know I will be sore today because the concrete roof offers no comfort. I eat one of my protein pouches and gather the blanket. I’m hoping I can get a little more time in my bed before training this morning.
I crawl into my bed and fall right to sleep. I’m not sure how long I was out before I get woken up, but it doesn’t matter, my back is stiff. The pounding on the door matches the pounding in my head. I slowly stand to ensure I keep my balance and I walk to the door.
The door seems a bit heavier this morning and when I open it I’m surprised to see my dad and Ev instead of Grant. Ev seems to be avoiding any eye contact. She seems upset and I want to do nothing more than apologize but dad’s presence makes it difficult. It’s a private matter that doesn’t concern him.
“Oh good, you’re dressed,” Dad says as he pulls me out into the hallway. I look down and realize I never changed out of my jump suit from yesterday.
Before I know it we are walking down the hallways. “Where is Grant?”
“You will both train later. Right now you are coming with me because I think it’s about time I show you something.” His pace picks up a little. He seems both excited and serious. He takes us through the last hallway to a door that has always been off limits. I have only seen scientists come through those doors. He puts his hand up to a screen by the door and leans into the screen. “Rene Anfang.” A light scans his hand and the door unlocks. He holds it open for Ev and I to walk through.
The halls in this part of the complex are red instead of the blue I am used to. I know that this is the area where the scientists sleep but that’s about it.
Ev speaks up. “Where are we?
“This is the research and development wing.” Dad keeps walking and we follow.
“What happens here?” I look around.
“This is where us scientists work and sleep. In that order.” He chuckles to himself; I don’t get it.
He leads us down a couple more hallways to an elevator. We get in and he puts his hand on another screen. “Rene Anfang.” I can feel it taking us down. After a few moments, it stops and the doors open. What I see before me is so overwhelming that I can barely take it all in. There is a giant room filled with machinery and monitors. It seems like around thirty scientists are working on the various equipment. In the center there are twelve giant tubes. Dad turns to Ev and I. “Welcome to the Center for Genetic and Obstetric Design, or the Center for G.O.D. This, Atom and Ev, was where you were created.”
She and I look at each other, not sure what to make of this information. Dad takes us down a set of metallic stairs to the ground floor. I get a better look at the twelve tubes and can’t move. Ev takes my hand and grips it tight. If she was at all angry with me from last night, the shock of what we see before us has changed her mind.
The first two tubes are empty but the remaining ten have bodies floating in green liquid, five males and five females. It has never been a secret that Ev and I were created this way but we thought we were the only ones. I feel betrayed and I just want to run out of there but I can’t look away. Each one of them has different skin tones and different hair color.
Dad comes up behind us and puts his hands on our shoulders. “These, my dear Atom and Ev, are the other Genetic Systems. Together you will all be Earth’s regenesis. I know this doesn’t really make much sense to you and I know you both have tons of questions but I promise you it will all start making sense soon enough. The answers to your questions will make themselves known but if I try to explain it all to you now it will be too much for you to process.”
This catches my attention since Ev and I are constantly sitting through hours of classes and being fed books of information that we have to retain in one pass. He’s not wrong though. I’m seeing what is directly before me and I have no idea what to make of it. What is the purpose of this? Does it rewrite the purpose I thought I had? I feel like I need to say something. “Why did you bring us down here?”
I don’t think he was expecting that question because he takes a moment to answer. “These ten will be released tomorrow and when they are ready we are going to need you two to teach them. You both are a couple of months ahead of them and we need you to catch them up to speed, especially in the training room. They will be looking for you two to lead them.”
“Is this why there were the other locked rooms in our hallways?” Ev speaks up. I hadn’t thought about that but it makes sense now. They have known that they were going to make twelve of us for a while.
My entire perception of who I was and where I was has been turned on its head. The man I called my dad has become a stranger to me. Right now the only person I feel I can trust is standing by my side, holding my hand.
Rene guides us down the path between the tubes. It just doesn’t seem right to call him dad anymore, especially since I now know where I was created.
“Yes, Ev. They will be occupying those rooms.” He turns to smile at us but his expression quickly turns south as alarms blare all around us. I look around to see red lights flashing throughout the room and all the scientists running amok.
“What’s happening?” I ask. This has never happened before, at least not that I know of. It seems like everyone else has gone through this before because they are all running with p
urpose. Some are hitting shut off valves; others are locking down equipment. Ev grips my hand tighter; I don’t object.
Rene ignores us and turns towards the scientists. “Hawk! Watch over these two!”
Stay here!” He yells at Ev and I. As soon as he says it, he’s gone. He bolts up the stairs and into the elevator.
“Come with me, you two.” We both startle at the voice and turn. Before us is a man about a foot shorter and fifty pounds lighter than me. I feel I would be able to lift him up with one hand. Hardly the type of guy you would expect with the name Hawk. A pair of glasses that are nearly an inch thick covers his face.
He runs off but I don’t move until I feel Ev tugging on me. I stumble as I catch up and Hawk leads us into a back room adjacent to the monitors. He shuts the door behind us.
“Help me with this, Atom.” Hawk runs to the other side of a filing cabinet and starts to push. It doesn’t move until I run beside him to help. We move it directly in front of the door.
“What the hell is going on?” Ev shouts. She has found a place against the opposite wall. It seems like she likes to have her back to something when she’s scared. Next to her is a desk with a few old monitors.
Hawk sits at the chair at the desk and turns on the monitors. “We’re under attack.”
“By who?” I ask as I walk up behind him. Ev stands next to me. This time I reach for her hand, it seems like the appropriate thing to do.
Hawk smacks the monitors a couple of times and they come to life. “The outsiders.”
It’s hard to take in everything I see. The monitors all show different parts of the compound. There are about fifty drones shooting at wave after wave of people scaling over the exterior walls. All of the outsiders have a piece of yellow fabric attached to a part of their body. The ones who make it over the wall open fire on the drones. Their firepower is inferior to that of the drones but their number seems to level the field. There are hundreds of them.
It’s a never-ending stream flowing over the walls. Bodies fall lifeless to the ground. The drones appear to be overpowered but instead of retreating, they push forward into the mass of outsiders. It’s as if they have no concern for self-preservation. Just as the original fifty drones are torn apart by the mass of people, fifty more drones march out in unison from their barracks. I had been able to see the barracks from atop the library roof but I had never ventured over there. The shot of the barracks that I see on the screen, however, shows a group of buildings much larger than I anticipated. Thousands of drones could be housed there.
Behind the newest wave of drones, the ground opens up and dozens of rolling machines pour out. I have never seen these before. A drone sits in a clear case on top of a spherical wheel. The wheel allows the machine to move in any direction and the case can spin around completely. Each clear case is equipped with two guns.
“What are those?” I ask Hawk.
“Rollpods,” he says without looking up. The rollpods speed into the crowd of outsiders and shoot recklessly at anyone within, including other drones.
I’m so mesmerized by everything that is happening that I haven’t realized that Ev is no longer holding my hand. I look to see that she is sitting on the floor against the side wall. She is visibly upset by this violence. I am about to go to comfort her when an image draws my attention to the screen. Stepping out of the hole where the rollpods came from is Rene.
“What is he doing?” I lean closer to the screen.
Hawk seems as confused by it as I am. “He’s just watching.”
“But it’s not safe!” I yell.
Ev quickly gets to her feet and looks at the screen. “Get him to go back in!”
“I can’t do anything from here!” Hawk’s energy has matched ours. He is on edge.
We watch the screens more closely. The rollpods have seized control of the battle and many of the outsiders are retreating. Two outsiders break free and run towards Rene. He turns to run back into the hole as a rollpod turns its aim at the two outsiders. One of the outsiders gets a shot off before he is gunned down and we all watch as Rene falls to the ground and into the hole.
“Dad!” I scream. I run to the door and push on the filing cabinet. “Let me out of here!”
Ev falls to her knees crying. Hawk runs to me and tries to pull me away from the filing cabinet. “Atom, stop. Stop! You can’t help him. You need to stay here.”
I shake him off and continue pushing on the filing cabinet. It starts to move. A rage has built up inside me. “I need to get to him!”
“You can’t!” Hawk yells back as he puts his hands on my shoulders and pulls me back. Before I realize what I’m doing, I punch Hawk square in the jaw. He falls hard to the ground. I’m instantly sorry that I did that but I have no time for remorse. I have to get to my dad.
I push hard on the filing cabinet and move it out of the way of the door. I reach for the door handle but just before I can pull it open I see a shadow speeding towards my head. The blow of whatever it was knocks me to the ground and I black out.
3
I open my eyes and the light amplifies the pounding in my head. I sit up and look around. I’m still in the room downstairs. Hawk and Ev are no longer here and the screens have been shut off. It’s too quiet. I run out the open door and find myself surrounded by the incubation tubes. The floor is empty. All the scientists are gone.
I’m about to run to the elevator when one of the Genetic Systems catches my attention. Her long, blonde hair floats beautifully in the liquid. I stop breathing for a moment because even though I can’t see her face I know that it’s the girl from my dream.
I walk to the side of the incubator but before I can get a good look Ev brings me back to reality.
“Atom! Come on!” She’s standing on the platform just in front of the elevator.
My mind can’t shake the thought of this blonde girl but I turn and sprint to Ev. “What happened? How is he?”
She holds the elevator for me as I run in. “He’s alive but he’s hurt badly.”
I feel a sense of relief run through me as we ascend in the elevator. He’s alive and that’s all that matters to me now. I don’t care how betrayed I have been feeling about the things he has hidden from me. He still created me. He’s still my dad.
The door opens and Ev leads me down a maze of hallways deeper into the scientist quadrant. She pushes through a set of double doors and I step into the medical ward. People in medical masks and green scrubs run around in a panic.
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” I hear one of them say. My brief moments of relief have turned back to concern. I push my way through towards a room where I can see doctors working on someone through the window. It’s actually the only room where I see anything happening. Just before I get there, Hawk and Grant cut me off, blocking my view.
“Tell me what’s happening!” I demand.
Grant grabs my arm and uses all his strength to pull me back towards Ev. “Just let the doctors do their work.”
I’m about to give in to Grant’s strength when I see the doctors in the room begin to panic. Another doctor runs by me. “He’s crashing.”
I break free from Grant’s grip and run to the window of the room. I see Rene, my dad, lying motionless on the operating table in the middle of the room. The doctors strategically place patches on his body and cover him with the glass top of the operating table. One of doctors presses a button on the side of the table and my dad’s body convulses. I pound on the window to the room. “Dad!”
Another doctor walks over to the other side of the window and slides the curtains shut. I can no longer see what is going on. “You have to save him!”
Grant and Ev have joined me by the window. Ev puts her hand on my shoulder but I shrug it off. I don’t want to be touched. Instead I slide down against the window and sit down against the wall. Ev joins me on the ground. Grant pulls over a chair but sits far enough away to give Ev and I some privacy.
“Why aren’t you upset?” I don’t l
ook at her.
She shuffles her body closer to me. “It doesn’t matter what I feel or how I show it. It won’t affect the outcome.” I look at her. She’s right but I still don’t like how indifferent she seems.
“You don’t like him, do you?” I search her eyes for the truth.
“Of course I like him, Atom. He created me and has been nothing short of generous and kind with me. I have just learned not to get too close.” She turns away from me. I have certainly hit a sore spot.
“Why is that?” I press on. I see tears forming in her eyes. She tries hard to hide them.
“There are things that I know, that he hasn’t shared with you yet. Things I’m not allowed to share with you … unless something like this happens.” She stands and storms away. Grant doesn’t flinch as she walks passed him; he just keeps his eyes on me.
“What is she talking about?” I walk up to Grant. He stays seated in his chair.
“Not right now,” he says as sternly as I’ve ever heard him. He’s concerned. Why wouldn’t he be? Ev and I aren’t the only family that Rene has. I look around and realize that I was focused so much on my own emotions that I didn’t notice the amount of people who have gathered. Every scientist must be here. The number of people who work here is much higher than I would have thought. There must be around one hundred scientists who have come to support Rene. A couple dozen drones patrol the perimeter. They too seem to be putting most of their focus towards the room in the center.
I pull up a chair next to Grant. “Why did those people attack us?”
He sighs and turns to me. “They want to stop us.”
“What do you mean? Stop us from what?” I’m starting to feel like I have been kept in the dark my whole life. I know nothing of what is going on here or who I am.
“They want to stop us from destroying the world.” He turns his eyes away from me. He’s upset with himself at revealing this information. I’m not sure what to think of it. Rene told me the world was going to end and he always made it seem like we are the good guys, but good guys wouldn’t destroy the world.
Gene. Sys. Page 3
